Oct 14, 2008

Rappaccini’s Daughter | Setting

The story has two major settings, the first an old, gloomy building in Padua where the protagonist, Giovanni, lives while he studies at the University. Over the entrance to the ancient building is the armorial insignia of a family, a member of which is figured as a “partaker of the immortal agonies” in Dante’s Inferno. In this way, Hawthorne immediately establishes an allusion to Dante’s Divine Comedy. Like Dante, Giovanni is placed in a situation to learn about the nature of evil and its consequences. However, in this story, Hawthorne presents both evil and redemption...